The Legend of The Child of The Tracks
by Cordogg
Summary: A failed 1958 suicide attempt haunts Doc to this day. This takes place after the Beautiful Stranger series M rated section . You may need to read it to understand. FLAMES WILL BE USED TO LIGHT ME CIGARETTES. Please review if you like it!


**This story takes place approximately twenty years after the end of "Beautiful Stranger".;  
Yeah, it does give away what eventually happens with Prince and Doc. Sorry.  
NOTE: For those of you reading this for the first time not familiar with Prince and Doc Hudson, this may be confusing. So it may be helpful if you read the Beautiful Stranger series first.  
NOTE: I was trying to wait until I finished "Beau. Stra." first but I just can't. I had to get this off my chest now because honestly I don't know when Beautiful Stranger will wrap up. I got alot of chapters to go on it. Pls enjoy.**

Flagstaff, Arizona, 2:53 P.M.

The navy blue Hornet pulled up at the railroad track, then scanned up and down the track in both directions. Blue birds were serenading noisily in the tree

tops of the isolated area of the track. This was still an active railroad route, used now mainly by Amtrak passenger trains. Peering over the other side of

the track he recognized how thick brush had now completely covered up what was once a makeshift homeless campgrounds for cars down on their luck.

They had disappeared well over a decade ago, no doubt the result of someone in the government driving them off of this land. They were viewed as

squatters, living illegally on national land. It was not like they had anywhere else to go. This area had been a haven for the unfortunate for decades, as far

back as the Depression. This was a miniature town of the dejected, the despaired, but they were a family. The several dozen of them who lived here

looked out for one another. amid the curtain-and-cardboard box garages they had set up. They were a motley mix of everything from rusting vehicles who

had never had a good wash to once-shining designs showing the beginning stages of neglect due to their new inability to support themselves. In this very

spot, the less fortunate sought refuge here along the train tracks away from prying eyes and scornful looks of those who were convinced that these

vehicles wound up in their predicament by their own doing. Nothing could be further from the truth. While true some didn't plan their futures well, some

indeed might have preferred the drifter life, choosing to live "off the grid". Others were victims of bad circumstances. Things happened to them to force

them to become homeless, be it the loss of a job, a home, sudden illness, whatever the case was. Doc knew; he had reached that mark. He had become

officially homeless in 1958.

With his fortunes bare and unable to get any income as he knew nothing but racing, he finally hit rock bottom. Exactly 71 years ago he approached this

track where he now stood about to end it all. The blue race veteran turned as he heard someone approach. It was the other half that completed him. His

wife. The Lambourghini quietly rolled up to him, trying to gauge his expression. "You seem so sad Doc." she observed. Unlike 20 years ago when she first

met him and he insisted she call him Hudson, she did so until they married. Even though she liked his name, she preferred to call him Doc because to her

he looked like a "Doc". Ever since they tied the knot she called him Hudson only when she was upset with him. Which wasn't often. After twenty years

neither of them had changed. Prince was still the streamlined dynamic beau of a car with the seductive stare and hellish-shaped lips. Doc was still Doc.

Town judge and doctor, and avid racer. Guest commentator for the Piston Cup at times. Her graceful elegance still held his attention, even after all this

time. He had asked Prince to accompany him on this journey, some 365 miles from Radiator Springs here to this elevated place. Unlike the desert-located

'Springs in lower Arizona, Flagstaff was much cooler, was mountainous and a forested area. As any dutiful wife she obliged but knew something bothered

him. "Remember when we first met, and I told you about driving up on the railroad track. These were those tracks. I was here, in this very spot on the

night of 1958. This here place is where it happened." Prince could see he was debating whether or not to tell her what happened here. "It may help to

talk about it my love." she finally coaxed him after an awkward silence. "Whatever happened here, I can tell it has haunted you for a very long time." Doc

swallowed hard, then began. He opened his mouth and then closed it, hesitant. Then he began again. "Right down that embankment, there used to a

homeless settlement, I found out afterwards. All of that shrubbery there hid it. I couldn't see it, wasn't really focused on what was around me. I just

pulled up by these tracks. This was about midnight or so. I waited, then waited some more until finally I heard the train approaching. Back then it was an

old freight train, one of the real heavy Santa Fe ones. Amtrak uses this route now they say." Doc paused, realizing he was veering slightly off topic. "I was

determined to make sure I succeeded and not give that locomotive a chance to slow down once he saw me. The closer he was the less likely he could

avoid hitting me in time. When he was a good hundred yards away that's when I jumped on the tracks.

He starts blarin' his horn and all. I could hear him breaking but I knew he couldn't stop in time. To tell you the truth had it been an adult I would've

ignore it but all of a sudden I heard this little "No don't do it!" It was a small voice, like the voice of a child. A little kid screaming at the top of her radiator.

I was so startled by that little voice that I leapt completely off the track and was on the other side. I was confused, startled, I spun around and there was

this little red Volkswagen, Tiny little thing; she couldn't have been no more than about ten. She wasn't thinkingshe climbed..she rolled up on themtracks

right when I jumped off youknow?" Doc was looking at Prince with anguished eyes. He was becoming so emotional that his words were rambling

together. Prince sensed by his description it was clear what occurred next. She seemed to stop breathing, shocked with mortification for both her husband

and the untimely demise of the little car. "Maybeshe.. wasn'tthinking; she COULDN'T think you know??? Because of her condition. That had to be it. It all

happened so fast. I couldn't help her it happenedtoo fast. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't do anything it was too fast.........When I spun around to

face her I saw that one of her little tires had gotten stuck between two of the wooden railings and she was trying to free herself. It just happened so very

fast. As soon as I spun around and saw her, saw her trying to escape the train hit her. It happened in a matter of seconds. On second she was standing

where I was sittin', the next two seconds she was everywhere. There were pieces of her everywhere. You couldn't even tell what kind of car she was.

Train breaks screeching, that horn blowing, sparks flying, part of her tiny engine struck me. Her oil was all over me. There was nothing left of her. Most

horrible sound ever. I could remember screaming. Other cars from the transient camp were rushing to me, they heard it, heard her, heard me.

Heard the train. I bout went crazy Prince. I DID go crazy. All I could remember was just losing it. I wanted to end my life that night, and, inadvertently or

not, I caused someone else to die because of it. I never told you that I spent 4 years in a psychiatric ward. It was because of that. I had a total breakdown

behind that. I don't even know how I got to the mental hospital. A couple of years later I found out exactly what had happened that night.

That little girl they told me was what you'd call developmentally slow. I don't like the term retarded but they say that's what was wrong with her. She had

a learning disability and even though she was ten years old, she had the mindset of a four-year-old. Butterflies were her favorite creatures. Monarch

butterflies to be exact. She was homeless, like her family living in that embankment. They failed to watch her as they should have is what the nurse told

me. I didn't see it that way.

Maybe they couldn't watch her. From what I gathered she woke up and wandered out where she saw me. And she tried to save me. There were

witnesses I was told, that saw what she was trying to do and saw what I was planning to do and they were trying to get to both of us. They didn't make

it. That's what saved me from being accused of murder instead of attempted suicide was that some of those homeless cars and that train himself saw

exactly what happened. That little girl's parents were no doubt devastated by what happened but they had no hatred for me. They didn't. It was all

viewed as a tragic accident, that girl. As for me, I just know the minute that train his her, I went crazy. They had to take me away and put me in a

mental ward. The parents, that little camp maybe they forgave me for it but I just couldn't live with it. Somebody's KID died because of me that night.

I spent 4 years in a nut unit because of it, lost touch with reality. Turned to the 60s drug scene and all that and went to med school as I did. But every

single day that little girl's face haunts me. I can't forgive myself for it. For 71 years I bore the weight of that child and that burns more than even what

racing did to me." Doc's eyes were wavering yet he fought so hard not to cry in front of his wife. The way he was raised, his generation simply did not

show their feeling in public, especially to women. He struggled so valiantly to suppress his desire to unleash but it was torturing him to retain it. Prince

shook her head as she slowly rolled towards him but paused when she saw Doc's look turn to sudden fear. He was looking at something just past her.

Slowly coming toward them was a hazy figure of a small car. It was all white but it wasn't solid. Prince and Doc could see through the figure, see the train

tracks on the other side. It was the misty figure of what appeared to be a small Volkswagen beetle, obviously a child. The figure appeared non threatening

and hardly frightening, more calm and inquisitive. Prince's anti freeze froze in her body. Was she looking at a ...ghost? "Please don't be afraid." the most

innocent child-like voice spoke from the apparition. But it--or she--wasn't addressing Prince. The hazy figure went up to Doc, solely focused on him, as if

she didn't even notice that there was a second car there. "All these years I wandered these tracks, wondering what happened to you. All I wanted to

know was you were okay after that night. You seemed so unhappy. " She spoke with the innocent mindset that only children could. Not sure if he was

hallucinating, nor really caring if he was, Doc opened his mouth and only two words came fourth; "Forgive me." "You never did anything to me Sir. It's

nobody's fault I died. HE was ready to take me." The ghostly little car pointed one of her tires up at the clear blue sky, obviously referring to the Almighty.

"But I begged Him to stay here because I wanted to make sure you made it and He said okay, I could stay until I found out. Everyday I thought of you

too, I just wanted to make sure you turned out alright, and now that I know that you have, I job here is done." A sudden realization hit Prince. She

recalled seeing one of those television shows, long before she met Doc about a stretch of railroad in Arizona supposedly haunted by the spirit of a child car

killed in the 50s while trying to save an adult from committing suicide. The details were sketchy as to who the grown car was, only that the ghost here

was that of a little Volkswagen that haunted the stretch of tracks where she died. And in life she was fond of butterflies. In this area it was a well-known

local legend. "My Go....." was all she could mutter. The misty little car smiled at Doc. "Is she your wife?" she asked looking at Prince. "..Yes, she is." was

all Doc could say, still to dumbfounded by what he was seeing. "She's very pretty." The small VW pulled up to Prince. Prince etched a faint but sincere

smile at her. She swallowed.

She was overwhelmed by the beauty of this little being. She was so pretty. One of her pupils was larger than the other, giving her eyes a lop sided look. It

was the result of her genetic anomaly that caused her disability in life. Despite this flaw, she was beautiful to look at. "You are so beautiful." Prince spoke

under her breath.

The ghost-car pulled back, nodding as if quite pleased with herself. She studied Doc for a moment.

"I can rest now." she said. "Now I'm ready to go home and be an angel."

Then she turned around.

The implications of what she just said began to dawn on the couple. Had she been a restless soul waiting for Doc's return? Was this why she wandered

aimlessly all these decades was because she didn't know what became of Doc after that fateful night? As she veered from the side of the tracks she shut

her eyes and seemed to arch her head up into the sky, wearing the biggest smile a car her age could muster. Through a set of clouds, a ray of sunlight

beamed down on her and as it did, glittering flashes of light and monarch butterflies descended down on her, swarming her in a dance of almost magic

dust and wings. She never stopped cruising but as she did she began to fade into thin air, but the butterflies and the glittering dust remained behind.

Gradually, the ray of light too faded from view. Just like that, she was gone. Doc stood there, with butterflies perched all over him, still struggling to hold

his composure. Still too stunned by what he had just witnessed. "Prince." was all he could say as she came up to him, watching her husband's battle to

not lose it in front of her. And he was losing that battle. "Let it go my love. You have carried this burden for so long and it is killing you to keep it bottled

up. She is in a much happier place, this I do know, you answered her question and now that you have, she is finally free now. You can cry in front of me.

There is no shame in it to me, ever." Prince embraced him with her tires as far as she could stretch them. And cry he did. He was both distraught and

relieved by what he had seen. Prince now understood two things: why Doc had such an adversion to the color red. One was the car that ended his racing

career was red. Lightning McQueen was red even though in the end Doc loved him. Two: the little child that died because of him was also red. The same

shade of red. The other thing that was clear to Prince was now she knew why Doc wanted their son to be named "Monarch", whether it was a boy or girl.

The little ghost-car had died because of him but she was also at peace now--because of him. No more sightings would follow.

The haunting of the Child of the Tracks as the story went abruptly ceased. The phantom car was never seen or reported again.

She had done her job. And he had turned out well.

**_  
Yes..Prince bears Doc a son, Monarch. Future story coming up._**


End file.
